Truce
by Newbie08
Summary: This takes place after the scene in 'Death at the Mosque' where Mac goes to comfort Harm but he pushes her away. H/M shipper.


This is in response to the June challenge lines on the HBX Archives:

_Mac: Why are you doing this?  
Harm: Because it's the right thing to do.  
I've stopped trying to stop you._

**Title:** Truce

**Rating:** Any

**Paring:** Everyone's favorite…Harm and Mac.

**Disclaimer:** No, I do not own them. I just liked them so much I decided to borrow them for a while.

**Summary:** This takes place after the scene in, what I believe is, Death at the Mosque, where Mac goes to see Harm at Mattie's bedside but he pushes her away. Basically, Harm knows he screwed up so he decides to call a truce.

Truce.

It's a word that has been used for many centuries during many different situations. It used to be meant for calling off civil wars in foreign countries. One side would come out with a little white flag waving in the air, hoping to call a truce and become allies again.

While later on in history, a truce took on a new form known as peace treaties. It was a written contract that one party from two sides had to sign, stating they would call of the war they were fighting and either choose to become allies or sacrifice something for the other country.

But the more recent term was the original…truce. And that's what Harm and Mac needed. Throughout there friendship they argued many times and more often than not, they would find some way to call a truce and get past whatever bump in the road they came to.

But this current one, although it may seem small to onlookers, was a big one for the two parties involved. Harm promised Mac time and time again he would always be there for her and he had. But when it came time for Mac to be there for him, he wouldn't let her. Yes, he'd been hurting, but that was no excuse to shut her out. It had only been a few weeks ago that Mac confessed she'd been pushing him away and they vowed to themselves to be there for one another.

And now look at them. When Mac tried to keep up her end of the bargain, she had been shooed away, told by his actions instead of his words that she wasn't needed, her presence unwanted. So she took the hint and left. Yes it was hurtful, to care so much for someone just have them shut you out.

But Mac knew in her heart of hearts it was the right thing to do. Had she stayed and basically forced Harm to talk to her, it wouldn't have ended any better than it really did. She didn't go there to cause a scene outside of Mattie's room. She went there to be with him, only to get shot down.

Harm, on the other hand, realized a few minutes too late that he made a colossal mistake. Mac was doing what he'd promised he'd do for her, and he made her feel unwanted, like she wasted her time driving the three hours it took to get to Blacksburg just to have to turn around and drive back.

He held his head in his hands, knowing he screwed up big time with this one. He thought about the many ways he could go about fixing this only to come up short. Nothing seemed like it would work. He used the phrase, 'I'm sorry,' way too much during their friendship so now it lacked any meaning, no matter how true it might have been.

He thought about just letting it die down and go forgotten, like many of their issues had been but that would just add to the baggage they each carried.

For a brief moment the thought of asking her to 'table the discussion' came to mind but he shook that thought away quick, knowing just that one phrase brought up too many memories for him.

And begging for forgiveness was just not an option.

That's when he realized what he had to do. He had to revert back to their old strategy; he had to call a truce. If he wanted to get back on the right track with Mac, he'd have to do this in a creative way. All of the other ways lacked thought and caring, and those were the two things he knew he needed when it came to Mac.

Harm walked up to the nurse and asked for a piece of paper. When she looked at him skeptically, he said it was so he could write a letter to Mattie's father Tom. The nurse caved, believing his excuse to be a valid one.

As soon as he had the paper, he removed a pen from his pocket and placed it on the paper, poised and ready to write. He thought hard about what he wanted to write, knowing this was one of the parts that required a lot of it.

Once he had his thoughts on paper, Harm went in to tell Mattie. He told her there was something he had to take care, something that needed his full attention immediately before it became to late to fix. With a kiss to the forehead, he was out of her room and on his way down the hall towards the elevator, only to stop short.

"Tom?" Harm addressed him in question, wondering why he finally decided to show up, drunk, of all things.

Tom staggered and almost fell when he turned around to face Harm, cockiness covering his features. "What's the matter Rabb? Is the kid becoming too much for you? You finally ready to give her back? Is that why you're not standing in my way this time?"

Harm was seething with anger. It took everything he had not to punch Tom square in the jaw. He looked at Tom with disgust before replying, "No, Tom. I've stopped trying to stop you from seeing her. Maybe seeing Mattie is going to sober you up and realize what you're doing to yourself. Now if you'll excuse me, there is something I have to tend too."

Harm turned back around and headed for a door, opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Harm was working on auto-pilot, running down the steps two at a time, hoping not to trip and make it to his car in one piece…

It was a long ride from Blacksburg to Georgetown but it was well worth it. The entire three-hour drive was filled with soft sounds from the radio and Harm's thoughts. He knew his delivery was just as important at the actual truce itself. He had to put some thought into it.

When he arrived at Mac's apartment building, he took her steps two at a time, just like he did leaving the hospital. He knew it was extremely late and she would probably kill him for disturbing her sleep but this was something that couldn't wait.

Once he made it to her door, he exhaled heavily and took out his cell phone. He thought about knocking but knew the neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, he decided to call her, knowing her cell phone was always on and she never ignored a call.

"…Kenzie…" Mac spoke groggily into the phone. She normally looked at the screen to see who was calling but at two forty-seven in the morning they were lucky she even picked up.

"Hey Mac, it's me." Mac thought for a moment. His voice was too high pitched for something bad to have happened to Mattie and he sounded…impatient and anxious.

"Yeah…" Her head still in the pillow, Mac replied to Harm.

"Do you think you could come to your door? I don't want your neighbors to come out and yell at me for being too loud."

Mac thought about what Harm said. Go to the door? Why would she go to the door at this hour? The grogginess was too powerful for her to ponder his sentence any further. She snapped her phone shut then swung her legs over the bed before shuffling her way to the door.

She flipped the light on then looked through the peephole only to find something waving at her. This was by far the weirdest thing she'd ever seen at her door. She opened the door to find Harm, waving a pen with a white handkerchief stuck under the cap. At her confused look, Harm smiled then said, "Truce?"

Mac shut the door behind him then leaned up against it, looking at him through half-opened eyes, wondering just what the hell he was doing at her apartment. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and after a minute or so became alert.

"Okay, say that again?" Mac looked at the makeshift flag Harm held in his hand. He lifted it up and waved it back and forth.

"I'm calling for a truce, Mac." Harm smiled hopefully but it fell from his face when she showed no expression.

'What the hell is he talking about?' Mac thought. It was waaayy to early for this game. After a few more moments of staring at Harm and the 'flag' that's when Mac realized what he was doing. This was his way of apologizing, or so she thought, for his actions at the hospital.

"Why are you doing this? Calling for a truce, I mean."

Harm took a step closer to her, slowly working up the courage to bring out his other form of a truce. "Because it's the right thing to do. I didn't mean to push you away at the hospital. I didn't mean to make you feel like you weren't wanted."

Mac crinkled her brow. "So you decided to ask for a truce when you could've just said you were sorry?"

"Saying sorry is over-rated, Mac. I say it way too often so I thought I'd change it up a bit. You know, try it the old-fashioned way."

When Mac smiled softly at him, he knew his effort paid off. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper and unfolded it before starting to read, his voice becoming deep and holding a slight accent, similar to the way they talked many years ago when reading a peace treaty.

"Attention Miss Sarah MacKenzie. I, Harmon Rabb Jr. come to you with an offer for a truce, a peace treaty, if you will." He looked up to see Mac covering her mouth, attempting to hide her smile from him. He took that as a good sign and continued. "I come to you on this day, asking you to forgive me and my actions for pushing you away. I am requesting that we remain allies, and I am willing to sacrifice anything I have, if it means having you by my side." Harm took the pen and used it to sign and date the treaty before handing it to Mac.

Her face held a shocked expression. She definitely wasn't expecting him to do something like this. Harm was never one for romantic gestures and this just took her by complete surprise. She thought for sure they would just let it go and move on as if nothing happened, as if her feelings weren't hurt. Her eyes scanned the paper she held in her hands. It was the real deal, Harm had actually wrote out a peace treaty and signed it, just for her to know he was truly sorry.

Harm closed the gap between them and ran his hands down Mac's arms before placing them on her waist. Once he had her full attention, he spoke. "I shouldn't have pushed you away, Mac. I should've taken you in my arms and told you how much I needed you, how much you being there meant to me." He rested his forehead on hers then continued to speak, softly this time. "I mean it, Mac. I'd give up anything just to have you with me…always."

Mac looked into his eyes and could no longer contain herself. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. Harm smiled at her then said, "So what do you say, Mac. Truce?"

Mac reached into the front pocket of his jeans and removed the pen from there. She placed the paper on his chest then signed it next to his name. She smiled at him then replied, "Truce."

**The End**


End file.
